History of Kenloch Presbyterian Church By Hugh Cameron

Transcription

1 History of Kenloch Presbyterian Church By Hugh Cameron Kenloch Presbyterian Church began with the first meeting of Session being held at the home of Mr. Norman Johnston, East Lake Ainslie on August 3, At this time the Church was known as Strathlorne Church. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Scot MacKenzie, moderator of the Strathlorne anti unionists or Presbyterians. These were people that opposed joining the newly formed United Church of Canada. Elders present were Mr. Allan MacQuarrie and Mr. Neil Dan MacInnis. These men had voted against joining the United Church of Canada. Mr. Allan MacQuarrie was appointed representative elder of the newly formed session. It was agreed to ask Rev. Alexander Ferguson to conduct communion service on August 23, at 4:30 P.M... A congregational meeting was called on August 9, 1925 for the purpose of electing three elders. Mr. Neil Dan MacInnis was appointed secretary of the meeting. Mr. Allan Cameron of Scotsville, Mr. Malcolm MacKinnon of Scotsville and Mr. John M. MacKinnon of Kenloch were elected by a majority of standing votes to be ordained as elders. The second meeting was held at the Orange Hall at Kenloch on Friday, August 21, 1925 chaired by Dr. Scot MacKenzie. The purpose of the meeting was to ordain the newly elected Elders. The service was conducted by Mr. Harold Grothe a student minister and the moderator Dr. MacKenzie.

2 On June 22, 1927, a congregational meeting was held at the home of Rod Mac Lean at which time Mr. Mac Lean was given approval to write a Mr. R.E. MacLeod in regards to securing a stand for building a Church. It was agreed that one half an acre would be enough land. This letter was to be written immediately and a report was to be given within two weeks. A meeting was held on Oct and a committee was appointed to look after acquiring a lot for building a Church. The committee consisted of Mr. John M. MacKinnon, Mr. William MacLean and Mr. Neil Dan MacInnis. A committee for building the church included Mr. John H. MacKinnon convener, Mr. Rod MacLean, Dan A. MacLean, John D. MacKinnon and William MacLean. Mr. James MacAuley was appointed Secretary Treasurer of the building committee. At a meeting held in November 1928 it was stated that Mr. R. E. MacLeod was interviewed and he refused to give a lot of land under any condition. NOTE: On October 9, 1981, a lot of land approximately one acre in size adjacent to the Strathlorne cemetery was granted free of charge to the Kenloch Presbyterian church by the MacLeod family, decedents of R. E. MacLeod. In April 1930 it was agreed to ask Mr. Angus Mac Kay of East Lake Ainslie to write Honourable William Duff to assist in getting a building lot for the church on land owned by the railway. On June 16, 1930, a special meeting was held at the home of Mr. Rod MacLean, Kenloch for the purpose of agreeing on a price for the lot for the church. A price of $20.00 dollars was agreed upon and $16.88 had already been raised. Each family was to be contacted to try to raise the rest of the money. On June 24, 1930, the men of the congregation met to prepare the lot for building the new Church and following this they met at the home of Rod MacLean. Mr. MacLean stated that he had forwarded the sum of $20.00 for full payment of the lot of land for the church. They agreed to meet again on the Friday to haul gravel and stone for the lot. A deed dated January 1931 from the Canadian National Railway Company granted nine thousand square feet of land at Strathlorne to the Presbyterian Church of Strathlorne. In April 1931 members of the congregation were asked to supply lumber to begin the construction of the church. The building of the church was done by volunteer labour and with each family supplying lumber from their wood lots to provide the building material. There is no recorded record of when

3 the building was completed but it was probably in 1932/33. On Nov. 13, 1933 a special meeting was held to discuss a bill of $ for services by Mr. Iver MacIver a student minister that had been there for the summer. This amount would leave the congregation in arrears $ It was agreed to canvass the area to try to raise this money. At the annual meeting in January of 1934, it was agreed to borrow $ to pay the balance of this bill and that the loan is repaid in two instalments of $62.00 on Nov. 1, 1934 and $62.00 on Nov. 1, There are many more records of canvassing being done to raise money during these first years of the new church and many annual meetings reporting a deficit for the year. During this time the congregation was served by student and supply ministers with most of the Session meetings and Communion services being conducted by Rev. A.D. MacKinnon of Little Narrows. Rev. John Nute served the congregation from 1936 until He resided with his family in the manse at East Lake and served both congregations. He was ordained in Ministers that served the congregation during the first years were: Rev. Alexander Ferguson, Supply Minister Mr. Harold Grothe, Student minister 1925

4 Rev A. S. MacLean, Stated Supply Rev. Rev. A. D. MacKinnon, Supply Minister Rev. M. MacIntosh, Supply Minister Hugh Cleghorn, Student 1932 Ivor MacIvor, Student 1933 Rev. Alexander Ferguson, Rev Duncan Mac Call, Rev. John Nute, Rev. D.C. MacPherson, George Cunningham, Student 1944 Douglas Seaton, Student 1945 Alex Aiken, Student 1946 Jacob Bambary, Student 1947 In 1948 Rev. Charles MacDonald began his period of ministry in the East Lake and Kenloch Congregations. Rev. MacDonald served until During this time Kenloch and East Lake congregations were joined with Farquerson Presbyterian at Middle River as they were not able to carry on financially alone. After Rev. MacDonald moved, the congregation was again served mostly by summer student ministers for the next few years. Some of whom were: Malcolm MacCuaig, Student 1956 Dwight Read, Student 1957 Malcolm MacCuaig, Student 1958 Donald Moore, Student 1959 Rev. Walter Brett, Supply for summer of 1964 Bob Martin, A student from Scotland summer of 1965 Rev. Walter Brett, Supply during the fall and winter of 1965 Roy Pope, Summer of 1966 Rev. Douglas Codling, September to December of 1968 Rev. George Tannahill began his ministry in 1960 and served until He was ordained on July 3, 1960.

5 Rev. D.L. Mawhinney assisted by student John Finlayson during the summer of 1967; D. H. Davidson student for summer of 1968; Rev. Walter Brett served from December 1968 to June 1969 and September to February He lived with his family in Middle River Manse. Rev. Lee MacNaughton served the congregation from Rev. Walter Brett served again as supply minister from Oct until July Rev William Johnston and his wife served from August 1981 until August He was inducted into the congregation in April Rev. Donald MacLeod from Orangedale served as Interim Moderator from1986 to Supply during this time was provided mostly by Rev. Dr. Bean, Retired Minister from Sydney. Rev. John Hopkins arrived in the summer of 1988 and served until the fall of Gordon MacLeod, lay minister, from North Sydney did supply during the

6 period Rev. Lorne MacLeod, Whycocomagh, was Interim Moderator. David Stewart and his wife Mora served as Student Minister in the summer of 1994 Student supply Minister Rod Mac Donald conducted services during 1995 and Others who did supply ministry during this time were: Bonny Wynne Mary Anne (MacDonald) Grant (daughter of Rev. Charles MacDonald) James Douglas In 1996 Rev. Kenneth Allen and his wife Jean began doing supply ministry. He was appointed permanent supply in They live in the manse in Middle River and serve the three congregations. Rev. Lloyd Murdock, Baddeck, is Interim Moderator. People who served as Elders over the years were: Neil Dan MacInnis (first Clerk of Session) Allan MacQuarrie, Allan Cameron, Malcolm MacKinnon,

7 John Murdock MacKinnon, Jack MacQuarrie, Malcolm Cameron, Hector MacQuarrie, Dan Fred MacKinnon (second Clerk of Session) Jake Shaw, Marjorie MacKinnon, Margaret Quigley and Hugh Cameron (last Clerk of Session). The first treasurer was James MacAuley. Hector MacQuarrie served as treasurer for many years and was succeeded by George Hayes, followed by David MacIver and Audrey Fraser. The church celebrated its 75 th anniversary in 2000 and in the years that followed the congregation found it harder and harder to continue as revenue and membership was declining. The church was also in need of repair and the furnace needed replacement. In the spring of 2005 it was learned that Rev. Kenneth Allen was resigning from ministry in the charge. A session meeting was held and it was decided to hold a congregational meeting to decide what to do. On September 30, 2005 this meeting was held and it was agreed to close the church and amalgamate with East Lake Ainslie Presbyterian Church. The last service of worship was held in Kenloch Presbyterian Church on Christmas Eve December 24, 2005 and a closing service was held in June of This is by no means a complete record of the Kenloch Presbyterian Church only a few highlights picked out of the Congregational Minutes. There seems to be years not recorded anywhere or records may have been lost over the years. The people that had the courage and foresight to begin such a daunting task with almost no way of seeing an end to the project must be held in our highest regard.